Innovation and IT – Paths to Success

Getting the most value from your information technology investments today is more challenging than ever given the break-neck pace of evolution in product and service choices. Keeping ahead of developments in infrastructure, software, data systems and Internet applications absorbs increasing amounts of time and energy. Not only can missed opportunities cost businesses dearly in forgone revenues and customers, but inadequately assessed security and privacy-related risks can consume significant amounts of management resources when troubles crop up.

Knowledge@Wharton takes a look at some of the key opportunities and threats in these areas, including cloud computing, data storage, social networks and Internet marketing.

This downloadable PDF contains articles with insights from Wharton faculty on the following topics:

• No Man Is an Island: The Promise of Cloud Computing
• Time for a Data Diet? Deciding What Customer Information to Keep — And What to Toss
• Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security
• Privacy on the Web: Is it a Losing Battle?
• Betting on Betas: How Internet Entrepreneurs Are Creating New Paths to Online Revenue

Download article packet from Knowledge@Wharton

Rashid asks

What is the difference between cloud computing and software as a service? Some talk like they are interchangeable ….. but then someone else talks about it and makes it sound like they are totally different animals.

todd asks

Are there any standards, audits, governing boards overseeing cloud vendors? Where can I read about this? What should I know?

Come On Techies, Gimme My Cloud Now!

For the biz guys, moving from a server that you had to buy and manage internally to hosting was a great move and a major hassle reduction. The cloud looks like the next logical step. The benefits — no upfront costs, no internal management, no capacity planning — are really compelling for guys who think about the business. But the guys who have to make it work in practice, occasionally say, “Woah, not so fast. You want this to work, right?” In this post, we look at the tension between business logic driving to cloud and the technical hurdles of implementing “apps that matter” in the cloud.

Questions For The Techies

So we decided to put some questions to some smart techies that we know. The role playing here is the CEO needing to make some decisions on where and how to host the service that will shortly get the team fame and fortune.

The first person who rose to this challenge is Tony Bain. Tony Bain is an expat Kiwi, father, entrepreneur, angel investor and blogger who occasionally writes for ReadWriteWeb. He kicked up quite a storm recently with his post “ Is The Relational Database Doomed.”

Apps That Matter

We use “apps that matter” instead of “mission critical” because it sounds less pretentious. These are apps that, when they go down or suffer brownouts bring on a storm of outrage in the blogosphere. Well, at least they do when you have traction, and you are planning to have traction, right?

Apps that matter usually involve write as well as read. They may also involve, at some stage, transactions that include money getting transferred.

Rajesh Kalyanaraman asks

I’m interested to know more about cloud computing, can you take time to detail how the process started, why the innovation, is it adaptable by all companies, or does the limitation arise forcing only certain segment be part of. Is the concept worth for Software application Vendors or do we see them take a dip. Does all this mean cutting corners instead of costs.

Are You Keeping Up with IT Trends in the Marketplace?

According to a survey released last week by Robert Half Technology, seven out of ten Chief Information Officers (CIOs) said their companies will invest in information technology initiatives in the next twelve months.  Atop the list of projects they expected to invest in were:

43% in information security

28% in virtualization

27% in data center efficiency

26% Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

26% software as a service (SaaS)

The survey involved 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees. (Multiple answers were permitted — which is why the total adds up to more than 100%.)

A survey like this is good to know, for a number of reasons.  Among them: it gives you something to benchmark your organization against.

Ask yourself:  is your company staying abreast of what’s possible with newer IT solutions?  Even 24 months can change the IT landscape considerably. 

Deane asks

I’ve heard cloud computing can save money. What is it, and where are these savings coming from?